Tylis Amell - Apprentice Mage
by FalconHawk
Summary: Before he became a Warden and one of the Heroes of Ferelden, Tylis was just another apprentice at Kinloch Hold. This is his story.
1. Fire and Water

_I've been suffering from a bout of writer's block while writing_ Rise of the Wardens,_ so I decided to take out my frustrations on a pre-Origins story for Tylis Amell. Right now I'm not sure how long it will take me to finish this, or how quickly I'll update. But we shall see won't we?_

* * *

Jace stood at the door keeping a close watch for any returning templars, while Tylis tried unsuccessfully to work his way around the templar armor's enchantments. The two apprentices, as well as a number of tranquil and other apprentices had been tasked with cleaning the fourth floor of Kinloch Hold, when they discovered one of the templars had gone on vacation, and left his armor on the armor stand in his room, and had carelessly left the door open. The temptation had been too great, and the fledgling mages had felt obligated to enter and think up a prank of some sort to play on the templar for whenever he returned.

"Come-on!" Jace hissed from where he stood by the door. "I thought primal magic was your thing!"

"It is…" Tylis said, "But this armor is made to resist magic! I doubt even one of the senior enchanters could find a way around it very easily."

"Well if you don't hurry up and find a way, we're either going to have leave it as it is, or get caught by one of the tranquil or a templar!"

Tylis rolled his eyes and said as loudly as he dared, "Then I suggest you leave me alone, and let me concentrate!" Jace obliged, although Tylis could still hear the elf grumbling under his breath. A minute later, Tylis said in excitement, "I think I'm almost there! I can feel the spell starting to take hold!" Another few seconds and the suit of armor completely frosted over, and Tylis jumped backwards, grinning from ear to ear. "Yep! That's it!" He said enthusiastically.

Jace looked back into the room just as the frost disappeared and the armor returned to its normal appearance. "Good! Now let's get out of here!... Hey, how long is that spell going to last?"

"Three days." Tylis answered as he stepped back into the hallway and the two friends picked up their buckets of soapy water and coarse brushes again. "Right now it's lying dormant, but as soon as the templar returns and puts the armor back on, it will activate, and he'll have ice cold armor for a whole three days!"

Jace grinned. "That's why I like you shem… with the proper encouragement you can be rather devious! I like that… reminds me of me!"

"Again with the shem thing?" Tylis sighed.

"Sorry." Jace shrugged, "Old habits die hard."

"Really? Because I think you do it on purpose."

Jace grinned again, "Maybe I do."

Tylis Amell and Jace Surana. Two mages as different from each other as fire and water. On one hand, Tylis was a human, and the son of a mage as well. His mother had been a Circle Mage, or so he'd been told, and he'd been taken away from her almost as soon as he'd been born and raised in the chantry by tranquil and chantry sisters. Tylis had a reputation around the tower as something of an altar-boy. He fully committed himself to his studies, rose on time, went to bed on time, completed every research project and paper to the best of his abilities, and never back-talked his superiors, be they enchanter or templar. His primary mentor, an elven woman named Leorah, had quickly noted that while his skills in creation and spirit were lacking to put it mildly, he was quite skilled in the primal school and was a near prodigy at entropy.

Enter Jace Surana… Jace was an elf, taken, or kidnapped as he put it, from the Denerim Alienage. As far as anyone knew, he'd been the first person in his family to have been born with magic, although it didn't manifest itself until he was fourteen years old. From how Jace told the story, he and his three friends and 'partners in crime', Shianni, Soris, and their cousin Kylae had been out to earn some easy coin, and one of the city guards had taken an interest in them and had grabbed Shianni. For the first time ever, Jace had felt arcane energy surging through himself, and released it in a telekinetic blast that left Shianni on her feet, and blasted the guard back a good ten paces. After that, it hadn't taken long for the templars to show up and drag him off to Kinloch Hold, they'd kept saying it was for his own good, and Jace had never believed them.

Jace was a trouble maker right from his first day at the tower. He'd been there for all of three hours before trying to escape through the basement and swim across the lake. In the year since then however, his escape attempts had grown more and more infrequent until he stopped trying altogether, and resorted to playing harmless but annoying pranks on both mages and templars. Unlike Tylis, Jace had miniscule skill in primal, and his talent at entropy was completely non-existent, however he showed himself a natural at both creation and spirit magic. Jace's mentor, one Senior Enchanter Wynne, believed that if the brash young mage ever applied himself, then he could grow to become one of the more gifted mages in the entire Circle of Magi.

How the two young apprentices had ever become such good friends was something no one, not even they themselves, could ever figure out, and their friendship was widely disapproved of, by both the older more experienced mages, and the templars, however there was nothing either of them could do about it. Tylis usually proved to be at worst, a reluctant mischief maker, and on occasion he managed to talk Jace out of one devious plot or another. While Jace would leap at the chance to break any rule, and would constantly try to pull Tylis away from his studies to assist, sometimes he even succeeded.

The rattle of armor, and clicking of boots against the stone floor of the tower caught both of their attention, and the apprentices looked up to see Knight-Commander Greagoir himself, leading a human girl, several other templars, and First Enchanter Irving through the hallway and towards Greagoir's office. At first Tylis and Jace thought the girl was a mage who had committed some 'atrocity', and was about to be punished, but then they both realized that they had never seen this particular girl before, and she was wearing common clothing rather than robes, meaning that she was almost certainly a newly discovered mage. Strangely, she looked a bit old to be a new mage, Tylis guessed her to be seventeen years old, two years older than both he and Jace.

Greagoir stopped walking as he saw the two apprentices standing in the middle of the hallway, looking on with a little too much surprise. "What are the two of you doing up here?" Greagoir demanded, "Apprentices aren't allowed up here!"

Jace looked down at the bucket and brush he held in his hands, then looked back at Greagoir and said, "Well… we're both holding a mop bucket and a brush, so either we're—"

Tylis saw where Jace was going with this and sharply jabbed an elbow into his friend. "Cleaning duty Ser." Tylis said quickly, hoping that the senior templar would ignore Jace's comment. "Ser Hadley allowed some of us to go on cleaning duty along with the tranquil."

Greagoir groaned. "I'll have to have a talk with my second in command…" He said under his breath as he rolled his eyes, then looked back at the two mages. "You may go back to your studies now. The tranquil will finish here."

"Yes Ser, thank you Ser." Tylis said as he set his bucket and brush against a wall, then looked back to find to his horror that Jace was still standing exactly as he'd been and was staring defiantly at Greagoir. Tylis grabbed his friend by the arm and forcible pulled him along. When they were out of earshot, Tylis fumed, "What in the Fade is wrong with you? We just enchanted one of Greagoir's knights armor, and the way you were carrying on back there you were gonna get us both into a full-on interrogation!"

"Get off me!" Jace said and slapped Tylis' hand, he was silent after that until they got back to the first floor of the tower, then Jace looked to be sure there weren't any templars lurking around and said, "I just hate the way they always have to lord their authority over us! I mean… I never hurt any of them with my magic, and neither have you! I've never heard of a mage using their magic to hurt anyone!" Jace growled, before saying, "To borrow an expression from Shianni… 'Andraste's ass', I want to go home!"

"Jace… You're not thinking of trying to run away again are you?"

"Damn right I am!"

Tylis looked around for templars again, or any other prying ears, and then pushed Jace into the dormitory that they shared with some twenty other apprentices. None of which were present at the time. "Okay, seriously!" Tylis said, a little bit louder now. "What in the Fade is wrong with you?! If you would just learn to play by the rules and stick to your studies, then you'd probably see that it's really not half-bad here!"

"For you maybe!" Jace came back instantly. "You never knew what home or family was! I do, and I miss it! I hate this place, Tylis! I hate it so much! We have no freedoms here, even in the alienage I could at least go where I wanted and didn't have to put up with the amount of completely meaningless rules they have here… I mean we even have assigned times for lights out, and wake-up call, and that's just utterly ridiculous! And ever since Anders last little escape effort trying to swim across the sodding lake, we can't even go outside." Jace threw up his hands in anger. "I've put up with this place as long as I can, Tylis!"

"And what are you going to do?" Tylis demanded, "How do you plan to escape? Because it's not going to work! And lest you forget, even if you do make it outside the tower and across the lake, they still have your phylactery! They'll hunt you down and bring you back like they always do, and if you put up a fight, or if the templars are in a bad mood, they'll just kill you! You know how some of them are… Ser Doric, Ser Brethor… Ser 'Righteous Fury' Galvan. They enjoy tormenting and hurting us. Righteous Fury even killed an apprentice before you got here because he _claimed_ that he was casting blood magic. So how do you plan to get around them?"

Jace scowled. "I'll think of a way." He hissed and stormed away.

"Hey, where are you going?" Tylis called after him.

"To go clean out the repository!" Jace yelled back, meaning that he was going to the repository to take a nap.

Tylis sighed and threw up his hands in defeat, then he made his way back to his own bunk and opened his foot locker. He took out a book he'd managed to acquire from a merchant who'd stopped at the tower some time ago. The book explored the theory that Andraste was not a prophet, and was in fact a very powerful mage. Tylis didn't believe the theory, but it did make for a good read, and really made him stop and think. Tylis knew that he should have sought out Leorah and resumed his lessons, but he'd been given leave from his studies for the day to clean the tower, and Greagoir had already told him to stop cleaning, so Tylis felt that that entitled him to take the day off.


	2. Kassi

Tylis felt completely drained, Leorah had really been working him hard all morning, and now he was both mentally and physically exhausted, not to mention that the lyrium in his blood was at a nearly all-time low. He was badly in need of a lyrium potion, or a decent meal, or even just an hour to rest, but Leorah had refused him such a luxury, believing that Tylis needed to learn how to function without an ample supply of mana. Tylis thought such deprivation was cruel, and he could not help but think back to his conversation the previous day with Jace about how the chantry and the Circle controlled every aspect of their lives.

Tylis politely thanked the tranquil who served him his food, and began searching the cafeteria for Jace, it didn't take him long to realize that his elven friend was not there, although the girl that he'd previously seen being led through the tower by Greagoir was seated on the far side of the room, by herself. Tylis began to make his way towards her.

"Mind if I join you?" Tylis asked in his most friendly voice.

The girl looked as if she was mulling over the question for a few moments before she answered, "Not at all. Hey, you were one of the guys I saw yesterday when Greagoir brought me here, aren't you?"

"Yeah, that was me." Tylis answered. "I'm Tylis, Tylis Amell."

"Cassandra Toalmi." She said, "But all my friends call me Kassi."

Tylis asked, "So what should I call you?"

Kassi smiled and shrugged, "I guess you should call me Kassi. Cassandra is a bit of mouthful."

"Thanks. You know, you look different in robes." Tylis grinned.

Kassi's smile disappeared. "I'd rather be wearing my own clothes, but they told me I could only wear these robes… and they're freezing! Is the tower always this cold?"

"Yeah pretty much." Tylis answered, and he started in on his food. "Jusht wait until winter hitsh." Tylis said around the mouthful of stew before swallowing. "Then it's really going to get cold! They'll issue out more appropriate clothing when that happens."

Kassi nodded and took a bite of stew, then made a face as she swallowed. "Is the food here always this bad?"

Tylis shrugged as he answered, "I never had a problem with it. But I was born into the Circle after all. Jace complains about the quality of the food himself, says that the food he got back in the alienage was better… Oh yeah, Jace was the other guy you saw with me yesterday."

Kassi brightened somewhat, "Is he from Highever?"

"No, from Denerim." He answered, "Is that where you're from?"

She nodded. "I'd never been to the alienage, but it would have been nice to have someone from back home to talk with." Kassi took another bite of the stew and made a face again, "Oh Maker… this is _really_ bad and I'm not nearly hungry enough to resort to eating it yet!"

Tylis' eyes snapped up, "Would you mind?"

"Not at all." Kassi slid the bowl of stew across the table to him. "I really have no idea how you can stomach it!"

Kassi stood up and straightened her robes. "It was good to talk to you Tylis, I'm sure we'll bump into each other again."

"Yep, probably." Tylis said, and helped himself to more stew before saying, "See you 'round Kassi."

"See ya."

Tylis walked into one of the many large rooms that served as class/practice rooms for the apprentice mages, he found young apprentices and older mentors gathered around the room watching one apprentice in the middle of the room. This was normal practice, and the senior enchanters used it as an example to point out both the strengths and flaws of their pupils. What did surprise Tylis was that the apprentice in the middle was Jace, his face twisted in concentration to such a degree that he almost looked to be in pain, soft green light glowing from his hands as he moved them back and forth, pushing magical energy out of himself and into an oak tree that grew in midair in front of him.

Oak trees grew slowly, which meant that Jace must have been pouring massive amounts of energy into the tree, much more than would be necessary to grow a pine tree or sycamore. The tree was over ten feet tall now, and that was not including the roots. The branches were full of green leaves, and fresh leaves were constantly sprouting from the growing branches.

The look of concentration left Jace's face, and became one that was undeniably pained, his fingers hooked, and his knees gave out, Jace screamed as he fell to the floor and began convulsing. The sudden exertion and high magic output was too much for him. Tylis pushed his way through the crowd of mages to where his friend had fallen.

"Jace!" Tylis said, "Are you alright?"

Jace's skin was almost as white as chalk, and his whole body was trembling, but he still managed a cocky grin. "Yeah, I'm fine." He chuckled, "Pretty good wasn't that?"

"I would say that's a vast understatement." Wynne said as she looked down at Jace. Wynne was one of the oldest people in the tower, not quite as old as First Enchanter Irving and Knight Commander Greagoir, but pretty close. Wynne was also one of the few spirit healers in Kinloch Hold, and was unanimously considered to be the best healer. Tylis also suspected that Jace had been put under her tutelage due to his natural talent in the creation school. "Although I do wish that you had not chosen to exert yourself like that. It can be dangerous to-"

"Yeah, spare me the lecture, old woman…" Jace said as he grabbed hold of Tylis and managed to rise shakily to his feet. "I was…" Jace swayed. "I was never in any danger… and I need to know where my limits are." Jace's knees buckled and he would have fell if Tylis hadn't been holding onto him. "And it looks like I know where my limits are now."

Wynne frowned, and glanced back at her own friend and newest Senior Enchanter, Leorah, who nodded. Wynne looked at Tylis and said, "Take him back to his dormitory and make sure he takes it easy for the rest of the day." Wynne had been scribbling on a small piece of paper as she spoke, and now she handed the note to Tylis, "And then go to the stock room and get a lyrium potion for him. He needs it."

"But before you do any of that," Leorah chimed in. "Use your own impressive skill at entropy and get rid of the tree… We need the space."

Tylis handed off his burden to another of the apprentices and summoned his own power, chanting a spell under his breath. The glow that came from his hands was not the healthy looking green that had emanated from Jace, but rather a sinister looking red. Tylis finished his incantation and the red glow intensified, Tylis felt the arcane energy draining out him, but at the same time he was replenished by the lifeforce that he drained from the oak. He kept the spell going until the tree was nothing more than a blackened pile of dust.

Jace still had the same part proud part conceited grin on his face when Tylis returned with the lyrium potion. "Hey, thanks shem." Jace said as he accepted the vial and quickly drank it down, color almost instantly returned to his face. "So who do you think is more powerful… you or me?"

"Hard to say." Tylis said, annoyed at being called 'shem' again. "You're creation and spirit, I'm primal and entropy… But if I had to pick one, it would be me of course!"

Jace chuckled, still sounding somewhat strained. "Oh come-on! You saw what I just did… I created an acorn from nothing! Then I grew it into a tree! Do you have any idea how hard that is? I had to dump power into it to give it the energy that should have taken years of water of sunlight! You with your primal and entropy are only good a blowing things up and killing stuff. It's always easier to destroy than to create."

"And then I destroyed it in just a few seconds!" Tylis grinned, "You just keep making stuff, and I'll keep killing it!"

Both young mages laughed now, and Jace pushed himself into a sitting position as he said, "That's why we're such a good team!"

"So, in all honesty, what was that about?" Tylis asked. "You dodge class more often than you attend, and when you do go you do the absolute minimum. And now, all of a sudden you're at the head of the class!"

Jace shrugged. "Like I said, I needed to know my limits."

"Why… is this the escape attempt that you mentioned yesterday?"

Jace's smile disappeared, and he repeated, "Like I said, I needed to know my limits."

"You're impossible!"

"I know." Jace said, his grin quickly returning.

"Am I interrupting something?" Kassi called from where she stood in the doorway, and both Tylis and Jace looked at her with surprised expressions on their faces.

"How long have you been standing there?" Tylis asked.

Kassi smiled and shrugged. "Long enough." She answered. "They still haven't decided what to do with me just yet, so as long as I stay out of the way, they leave me alone." Kassi entered the dormitory and approached the two friends. "You must be Jace." She said, looking at the elf.

"Yeah." Jace said, as he began to study the girl in front of him. If he was trying to be subtle, he was failing, and the knowing smile that spread across Kassi's face told both Jace and Tylis that she was somewhat used to it. "And you must be the apostate that the templars brought in recently."

Kassi's smile disappeared and she sighed. "I never liked that word, 'apostate'. Me my folks have always just thought of ourselves as mages. We never-"

"Hey wait a second!" Tylis interrupted. "Your family were apos-I mean, mages too?"

Kassi nodded. "Yes. It runs it my dad's side of family, they've been mages about as far back as we can figure… decent number of mages on mom's side of the family too. But we always managed to hide it from the chantry." She frowned and sighed again, "Until I came along that is."

At the same time, Tylis and Jace both asked, "What happened?"

Kassi held out her right hand and a green orb of light appeared above her palm. "By the chantry's standards, I'm a creation specialist, but I have decent skill in primal as well." She closed her hand into a fist and the light disappeared. "Before the war with Orlais, my family were farmers, during the war they chose to come out of hiding and offered their skills, both in battle and in healing. They were repaid by having both the chantry and nobility look the other way. After the war we went back to being farmers, and with my skills being what they are, I could really make the crops grow!" Kassi smiled happily at the memory, and then it disappeared just as quickly again, and her voice turned angry. "And then one day _someone_ went and ratted me out to the chantry, and they took me and locked me up a spare room until the templars arrived and dragged me off here!"

Jace grunted. "Sounds familiar… well… at least that last part sounds familiar."

"I don't see why I'm so dangerous!" Kassi lamented, and she dropped herself onto one of the empty beds across from Tylis and Jace, bracing her elbows on her knees and dropping her chin into her hands. "I never did anything to hurt anyone! No one in my family ever did. We followed the rules set forth by the chantry, but we just wanted to live free… is that so wrong!"

Tylis glanced towards the open door, fully expecting to see Righteous Fury occupying it, but fortunately it was still empty. He didn't speak as loudly and Kassi and Jace when he said, "We're mages, we are dangerous, but dangerous does not mean evil. That's why we're here. To learn how really become mages, and how to control our Maker given gift of magic. And in time we are sent out to use said gifts to better the people, whether it's aiding our king in battle, or brining renewed life and health to a plague infested village, or even teaching others across Thedas of what we have learned here."

Kassi smiled, but it wasn't really a happy smile. "You're cute…" She said, "Naïve, but cute."

Jace chuckled from where he lay. "You'll have to forgive him. Tylis was born into the Circle, so he really doesn't know any better."

"I didn't say he was wrong." Kassi said, and Tylis brightened somewhat. "I just said that he was naïve. In fact he's probably right, but the Circle is not the only way, and we shouldn't be forced into it."

After that, the conversation was mostly carried on by Kassi and Jace as the discussed what their lives had been like before coming to Kinloch Hold. Tylis felt a bit left out, although he did enjoy hearing stories of the world outside the tower and across the lake, that and it gave him a chance to watch Kassi… It was unusual to have a girl in the boys dormitory.

* * *

_For those of you who are reading_ Rise of the Wardens, _you might remember Kassi from chapter 18 when Eebon tells his origin story. Yes... this is the same Kassi. I like having characters who interconnect my stories, it makes it feel more like my own universe._


	3. Food and Family

Tylis slept on the bottom bunk, and as such was forced to stare up at the top bunk rather than the ceiling. Over the last year, Jace had been the only person that Tylis would have considered a real friend… Oh sure there were plenty of people in the tower that Tylis was friendly with, apprentices, full mages and enchanters, even a few templars, but Jace was the only true friend. And now there was Kassi. Despite the fact that she'd only been at the tower for about a week, she was managing to quickly work her way into Tylis' life. He enjoyed hearing the stories about her life on the farm back at Highever, and when she talked about her own family, Kassi insisted that they were boring stories, but Tylis disagreed. Perhaps that was because he'd never had a real home, had never even seen a farm, and had never known a family. '_And there's another reason, I'm starting to like her so much…_' Tylis thought and smiled to himself in the dark, '_She's really pretty! And she thinks I'm cute!_'

"Hey Tylis!"

He wasn't sure how, but Tylis was sure that at hearing his own name whispered right next to his head, he launched himself several inches into the air… while lying flat on his back! Tylis opened his mouth, not sure whether he was going to cry out, or gasp, or reflexively cast a spell, but before he could make his mind, a hand was slapped down over his mouth. It was only then that he realized it had been Kassi all along.

Tylis could tell that Kassi was doing her absolute best not to laugh as she whispered, "It's only me!" A slight giggle escaped her lips. "If I move my hand can you stay quiet?"

Considering that it was dark, and he had her hand firmly over his mouth, there wasn't much he could do to answer, and after a few more seconds, Kassi's hand receded. "What are you doing here?!" Tylis whispered as loudly as he dared, as soon as he was able to.

"Get dressed and I'll show you." The answer came back, and Tylis was suddenly thankful it was dark or Kassi would have seen his cheeks flush red. "I'll wait out in the hallway."

Tylis was only halfway into his robe when he suddenly realized what Kassi had just said, that she would be out in the hallway. Tylis had memorized the layout of the dormitory, and so he could sprint towards the door even in total darkness without bumping into anything, he tore open the door, grabbed Kassi by the arm, and yanked her back inside the dormitory, leaving the door open only a crack.

"Tylis what-"

"_Shhhhhhh…_" Tylis hissed, holding an index finger over his lips. Only a few seconds later, they both heard the unmistakable rattle of heavy armor as a templar walked by. Tylis waited for another half-minute before releasing Kassi and following her outside the dormitory.

Once they were outside, Kassi asked, "How did you know he was coming?"

Tylis chuckled. "When you have a friend like Jace, and after he's dragged you off for a few midnight practical jokes, you learn what time the templars do their patrols." He grinned, "And you start to learn what templar is on duty what night… I think that was Ser Kessel, he's one of the nicer templars." Tylis looked around nervously for any templars, even though he knew it would be at the very least five minutes before Kessel came back. "So what is so important that it warranted sneaking around in the middle of the night?"

"Oh yes…" Kassi grinned, almost reminding him of Jace when he was about to embark on one of his troublesome escapades. "You remember how I said that the food here was absolutely atrocious?"

"Yep, sure do."

Kassi motioned with her head and started walking in the direction of the cafeteria and kitchens, Tylis followed. "I might have let slip that I know how to cook, and so they put to work as a cook… Still have to attend my lessons however, and I got assigned to Senior Enchanter Torrin today. Between the lessons and the cooking, I'm not going to have much spare time." Kassi groaned quietly.

Tylis cocked his head to one side, "Sooooo… Why are we sneaking around in the middle of the night?"

"Oh, sorry about that." Kassi laughed lightly. "I got sidetracked for a second… Anyways, since I'm assigned to work in the kitchens now, I have a key to both the kitchen _and_ the larder!" She grinned happily.

Tylis found himself smiling as well, he could see where this was going. And sure enough, he was smelling the delicious aroma of food before Kassi had even opened the kitchen door.

As she did so, Kassi immediately moved to one of the wood stoves and began stirring the contents of a medium sized iron pot, and adding various seasonings. Without turning around, Kassi said, "I was surprised how well they keep the larder stocked… I mean they have almost everything! With that in mind, it's a wonder why the food here so bad. Jace told me that it's because the tranquil have no emotion, and are incapable of experimenting, or even altering the most basic recipes."

"Very true." Tylis agreed.

After a few more minutes, Kassi dished them each a bowl of the stew she'd been preparing, as well as a thick slice a break for each of them. "Sweetbread." She informed him. "Family recipe."

Tylis took his first spoonful, he stopped almost as soon as it entered his mouth and felt his eyes widen. He swallowed so quickly that he almost burned his tongue. "Holy…" He said in an almost reverent voice, "I mean just… Wow!" He began shoveling more food into his gob. "You weren't kidding! Compared to this, the food here is atrocious! I'm not sure I can go back to eating the tranquil's food now! Hey… what is this?"

Kassi shrugged as she began eating as well. "Just lamb stew… throw in a few scraps of beef, some potatoes, leeks, onions, carrots… whatever kind of vegetables you want, real simple stuff. It's better if you simmer the meat in a good crisp ale, or even whiskey, but apparently the templars keep the booze here under separate lock and key. They must be scared of drunk mages or something." Kassi looked up and raised an eyebrow at Tylis. "And will you slow down!?"

Tylis looked up from his already half-finished bowl. "Huh?" He grunted. "Why?"

Kassi couldn't help but chuckle. "Because if you slow down you can taste it a lot better, you dolt! And it's not much good if it only lasts for a minute or two."

Tylis took her advice and slowed down. "Thank you for this." He said sincerely. "Jace has been ranting about how good home cooking is compared to what we have here since he got here. Now I finally get to see what I've been missing out on!"

"You're welcome." Kassi replied. "Besides, if I put this off much longer I was going to starve to death being forced to eat the other… _food_. And you're probably the nicest person here in the tower, so I thought I'd invite you to join me."

"Well, thank you… And thanks again!" Tylis grinned. After a few more minutes of eating and silence between the two, Tylis said, "So tell me about your family."

Now it was Kassi's turn to grunt, "Huh? Why?"

"Because I never knew mine." Tylis was frowning now.

"You mean, like never?" Kassi asked, "Not at all?"

"Nope."

"How is that possible?"

Tylis sighed. "I was born into Circle. My mother was a Circle Mage, or so they tell me, but I have no way of knowing. I don't remember her at all, and I don't even know her name…" Tylis gave a small smile as he said, "Obviously I have a father, but of course I know as much as him as I do my mother, and the same story with siblings. I guess Jace is the closest person I'd have to a brother."

"So they just yank you away from your mother as soon as you're born?" Kassi said, her eyes wide with shock.

"If she happens to be a mage, yes." Tylis answered indifferently. "I was raised in a chantry out in some remote village whose name I can't even remember, by the chantry sisters and tranquil. Then when I started to show signs that I too was a mage, they sent for templars and had me sent here."

"How old were you when you first arrived here?"

Tylis shrugged. "Five I think."

"And you've never left since then?"

"No." Tylis shook his head. "We used be able to go outside and exercise… We'd have all kinds of physical competitions, foot races, swimming, long jump, all sorts of things." Tylis scowled. "Until that _idiot_ Anders had to go and ruin everything by swimming across the lake! It took the templars two weeks to track him down and bring him back, and then they revoked our outdoor privileges!"

Kassi's frown deepened. "How do you survive in this place?" She asked, and Tylis could tell that she was really wondering how she would survive.

"Like I've been saying," Tylis answered, "It's all I've ever known. But after I pass my Harrowing and become a full mage, then I can finally get sent away on missions for the chantry, that's what I'm really looking forward to."

"What's the Harrowing?"

"Something every apprentice must face if they are to become a full mage." Tylis and Kassi both jumped out of their seats, eyes flying to the doorway, which was now occupied by a templar. Tylis' eyes went wide with fear, Kassi wasn't sure what to think, although judging from Tylis' reaction she guessed this wasn't good.

"Tylis, isn't it?" The templar asked, but Tylis was still too scared to answer. The templar's eyes were concealed behind the helmet's narrow visor, but the helmet moved slightly as the templar turned his gaze to Kassi. "And you must be the new apprentice who came from Highever a few days ago." Kassi dipped her head in confirmation. The templar looked around the kitchen, and back out into the cafeteria. "I give up… where's Jace?"

"Sleeping?" Tylis barely managed to get the word out.

The templar's muffled chuckling echoed out from behind his helmet. "Are you asking or telling?" Tylis didn't answer, and only continued to stare with terrified eyes. After a few moments of the awkward silence, the templar shrugged. "Well, have a good night." He said.

"Y-you're not going to report this?" Tylis stuttered.

The templar chuckled again. "Report what? You're not stealing lyrium from the stock room, or artifacts from the repository, and you don't look to practicing blood magic… And reporting you for having a midnight snack would just be idiotic, and a total waste of my time. Behind his helmet, the templar now looked to the steaming bowls of stew. He reached up and removed his helm to reveal soft grey eyes that Tylis thought looked a touch sad. His hair was mostly grey, with only a few streaks of the original black still remaining, his beard on the other hand was the opposite, stubbornly remaining almost all black, with only a few stray grey hairs here and there.

"Ser Kessel." Tylis said, somewhat relieved at seeing it was indeed one of the more gentle templars.

The Knight-Templar nodded. "Come to think of it…" He said, and sly smile spread over his face. "My silence may come with a price… Say… a bowl of the stew I've been smelling for the last few minutes."

Of course Kessel received what he wanted, and left the kitchen to prevent any feelings of awkwardness with the two apprentices. Before he left however, Kessel stopped in the doorway again, then turned and said, "My shift ends in another hour. I would highly recommend that the two of you be back in your beds by that time."

* * *

_I know this chapter might have been a bit dry, but it was pretty much just the setup for the next chapter. And I promise... I am going somewhere with all this. Actually I'm going about 2 or 3 places with all this. Anyways, thanks for reading. If you'd be so kind, reviews are always nice._


	4. The Knight-Commander

Over the next few days Kassi quickly became the third partner in Tylis and Jace's two man troop. During their meal breaks, the three of them would always sit together, away from the main crowd. Jace and Kassi would talk about their lives before being taken by the templars. Kassi frequently told stories about her family and seemingly routine life on the farm back in Highever, however despite how often she insisted that there was nothing special about it, Tylis never tired of hearing about a 'normal' life away from Kinloch Hold. Jace's stories tended to be a bit more adventurous, and usually involved the two siblings, Shianni and Soris, and their cousin and ringleader, Kylae. Tylis got the impression that the trouble was usually started either by Shianni or Kylae, Soris was the unwilling sidekick who was dragged along but always came back for more, and then either Kylae or Jace himself would get them out of said trouble, usually with an 'appropriate' amount of violence. By that time, Tylis had heard most of Jace's stories, and had learned how to distinguish which ones were truthful, and which had been concocted in Jace's vivid imagination.

Having never had a life outside the tower, Tylis didn't have any such stories, so most of his conversations with Kassi were about how things worked in Kinloch Hold, or about books that that he had read, his only real connection with the outside world.

Kassi hadn't even been in the tower for a full week before Jace suggested that he and Tylis involve her in one of their pranks…

"You guys really do this kind of stuff in the middle of the day?" Kassi asked as Jace led the way to the second floor of the tower, which mainly housed the Senior Enchanters and most of the more experienced mages.

Tylis looked back at Kassi and nodded.

"But… It's the middle of the day!" Kassi protested. "There's too many people out wandering around."

Jace chuckled humorously. "Not really, everyone is down on the first floor right now getting lunch, and the enchanters and templars like to take a few minutes out of their lunch break to go walk around outside the tower in fresh air." Jace laughed again, "Y'know, you sound a lot like Tylis when I first started dragging him along."

Tylis rolled his eyes as he said, "People around here tend to fall into routine pretty easily, so we just learn who does what, and when they do it. For instance, you want to avoid the templar quarters during the lunch hour because of few of them take their meals in their rooms. The tranquil are the epitome of creatures of habit, so you can figure out their habits in one day flat, and so on and so forth…" Tylis looked back to Jace, "So where's our first destination?"

"Wynne's room." Jace answered happily. "Gotta get some payback for all the pointlessly long lectures that she puts on me."

On reaching Wynne's quarters, Jace promptly 'borrowed' her staff, then made a beeline for Senior Enchanter Araith's room, where he swapped out staffs, then back to Wynne's room to leave her with Araith's staff.

Once all that was done, Kassi said, "That was easy."

This time both Tylis and Jace chuckled. "It usually is." Tylis grinned. "Jace is usually the first one they suspect, but without evidence there's really nothing they can do, and with no witness there's no evidence."

"Hey we got about ten more minutes before they start coming back." Jace observed. "You two up for another raid?"

Tylis grunted and rolled his eyes. "Count me out." He answered. "I actually want to get some lunch on my lunch break."

"Oh come-on!" Jace complained, "It's no fun doing this stuff alone!" He turned to look at Kassi. "What about you? Maybe some justice you want to dispense on your mentor?"

Kassi thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. "Sorry Jace, I think this is enough excitement for me for a while."

Jace threw up his hands and groaned. "Fine… Hey, Tylis. If anyone asks where I am, then tell them you haven't seen me today. I got one more thing I need to do up here, and then I'm heading to the repository." He grinned happily, and set off in the direction of First Enchanter Irving's quarters/office."

"Why's he going to repository?" Kassi asked as she and Tylis made their way back towards the staircase.

Tylis laughed good and hard before answering, "Because the repository is always locked, and no one goes down there unless there's some artifact that they need for whatever reason… which isn't very often. As soon as Jace figured that out, he snaked the key from one of the templars and made the repository his home away from home." Tylis laughed again, "Whenever Jace says he's going to repository, he means that he's going to take a nap, and he probably won't show up again for the rest of the day."

"And you never join him?"

No." Tylis said as he began making his way down the stairs. "I like being a mage, and I really do believe in what they do here. I know that it seems a bit harsh at times, but no one ever claimed that life was supposed to be easy. So while he's napping down there and fantasizing about escaping the tower, I'm actually up here improving my skills."

Kassi nodded. "Well, you already know that I don't agree with everything you just said, but it does make sense… But… don't you ever want to leave here? Go out and see the world? Aren't you ever curious about your family?"

"Yes, yes, and yes." Tylis glanced back over his shoulder at the girl following him. "And I will leave the tower someday. If I'm half as good as Leorah and Irving say I am, then they'd be crazy not to send me out on their missions as soon as I pass the Harrowing."

Kassi nodded and smiled. "I still think you're naïve, but at least you got a brain in your head."

Tylis blushed as he said, "And… I'm still cute right?"

When she was done laughing, Kassi said, "Yes." She laughed again, but more quietly this time, "Yes, you're definitely cute."

Tylis' blush deepened as he said, "And… I think…" The next three words spilled out of his mouth so fast that they were barely intelligible. "That you're pretty!"

"Thank you." Kassi said as she turned her face away. "I think I had… better go see what Torrin has planned for me today. I'll catch up with you later." Kassi stepped out of the staircase and took a few steps before stopping and turning back to Tylis. "And I think that Ser Kessel is on duty again tonight… Soooooo… Think you'd be up for another late night meal?"

"Do I really have to answer that?" Tylis grinned.

* * *

Knight-Commander Greagoir leaned away from the desk and into his high-backed chair. On the desk in front of him were various reports for all parts of Ferelden, and even a few from the Free Marches and Orlais. There had been a small Chasind raid along the edges of the Korcari Wilds, and since there was no proper military force in the area, the templars had dealt with it. There were numerous apostate hunts going on all over the kingdom, but that was practically a constant. And finally there had be reports of demonic possession in a small town called Glade, near the Frostback Mountains. The last report was the only one that truly troubled him. He and Irving had dispatched a dozen templars and three very capable mages to investigate and deal with the problem, but when they arrived in Glade, they discovered every living person in the town had been slaughtered and completely drained of blood, and the town had been burned to the ground. Knight-Lieutenant Irminric, the templar in charge of the expedition had taken the initiative and had led the group in search of what was certainly an abomination.

Greagoir sighed and rubbed his tired eyes with two fingers. Despite the danger that Irminric and the others were in, Greagoir wished that he was the one leading the hunt. Truth be told, Greagoir's best memories were during his days as a lieutenant, carrying out chantry business, and sometimes the Maker's justice in the field. It had been exciting, exhilarating, almost rejuvenating, and never had Greagoir felt more alive. But things had changed, and even good things had to come to an end. As he became older, his own superiors had decided to promote him, and eventually he'd reached the position of Knight-Commander of Ferelden, the highest position he could achieve, and he was content.

"Knight-Commander?"

Greagoir lowered his hands to find Ser August Kessel standing at attention in the doorway.

"I'm sorry to have disturbed you, Commander." Kessel said respectfully, still locked at attention.

"It's not a problem, August." Greagoir answered as he stood up, feeling his knees pop as he did so. "I welcome distractions from the tedium of the daily routine… And stand easy!" Across the room Kessel immediately relaxed. "What do you need?"

"One of the apprentices, Tylis Amell, wishes to speak with you, Ser. He says that he wishes to know about his family. I told him that he would be better off letting the matter rest, but he is quite insistent."

"Tylis Amell…" Greagoir repeated the name as he stroked his grey jawline beard. "Isn't that the same apprentice who's always associating with that trouble-maker, Jace Surana?"

"Yes Ser." Kessel answered. "Although in his defense, Tylis himself is an exemplary apprentice, and his mentor, Leorah only continues to shower him with praise."

Greagoir arched an eyebrow curiously at his templar. Kessel had always been more friendly with the mages than Greagoir would have preferred, and was perhaps a bit too lenient on the apprentices. Perhaps that was why Kessel had never advanced beyond Knight-Templar, despite his age. Greagoir was tempted to deny the request on the spot, but as he looked back at the pile of papers on his desk he realized that he had no urge to return to his daily routine, and after all, what harm could there be in merely hearing out the boy's request?

"Very well." Greagoir sighed, "Send him in."

Ser Kessel leaned back out into the hallway and nodded, a few seconds later, Tylis strode in. He stood just inside the doorway, trying not to look scared or nervous, and failing on both counts.

"Stop cowering." Greagoir said in the same tone that he used when giving orders to his knights. "It's unbecoming! And unless you have done something wrong, you have nothing to fear."

"Sorry." Tylis said, and after sucking in a deep breath of air he was able to somewhat regain control himself and meet the Knight-Commander's eyes. "Force of habit, Knight-Commander."

Greagoir nodded once. "Ser Kessel tells me that you have questions of your family. What questions would those be, exactly?"

"I'm… Really not sure, Ser." Tylis answered. "I don't know anything about my family, so I wouldn't know where to start. I, _uhh_, well… I already asked Senior Enchanter Leorah, she referred me to the First Enchanter, but he said that even he didn't have access to that information, and that I would need to ask you. I _uhh_… asked Ser Kessel to _umm_… announce me? Because I didn't want it to look like I was… _Umm_, that I was going straight to… straight to the top of the chain."

Greagoir couldn't help but to smile at the intelligence behind Tylis' reasoning. Perhaps he really did deserve the praise that was constantly being sung about him. "And so you believe that I have information on the Amell family, and that I have been keeping said information from you?"

"Yes." Tylis said then quickly reversed himself, "I mean no… I mean yes… but… not that you were doing it intentionally."

"For the sake of argument, let's say that I do, and let us say that I give it to you. What would happen then? Your family has never made any attempt to write or to contact you in any way. It is possible that they do not even know you exist."

Tylis gulped, he couldn't help being afraid of Greagoir. "They… they might know I'm here. But common sense would dictate that at the very least, my mother would know I exist."

"True enough." Greagoir nodded. "But even so… what would you do? Why do you want to know?" He sighed and leaned back against his desk. "Tylis, I was not born the Knight-Commander, nor was I born a templar. My family hails for Orlais, and I came to Ferelden as a young man. We did our best to stay keep up correspondence, but as the years passed, the letters on both sides became fewer, and when the war broke out between our two countries and I refused to return, the letters stopped altogether. But I found a new family in the form of my brother knights that I served with, and should you ask Irving, or Leorah, or Kessel here, they would all tell you much the same thing. Can you not learn to be happy here with what you already have?"

Tylis' instinct told him to simply agree with the Knight-Commander, then turn around and get back to his own daily routine, but then Tylis swallowed his apprehension and forced himself to meet Greagoir's eyes again. "I have learned to be happy here, Knight-Commander. But… my family… my real family, is like a piece of myself that I have never known. Please Ser, I am only asking for simple knowledge."

Greagoir mulled over what had been said for a few moments, and looked down at the floor as he mentally debated with himself. Finally he looked up and said, "Very well. Wait here a moment." Greagoir departed the room, only to return a few minutes later with a small leather bound folder. "There." Greagoir said as he handed the file to the waiting Tylis. "All the information we have present on the Amells. It isn't much, mind you. But perhaps it will sate your curiosity, and will give you your peace of mind."

* * *

_I like Greagoir, but his only real part in DA:O was to clean up the messes of the mages, and that really didn't leave a whole lot of room for personality. I get that he's dedicated to his job, but what Knight-Commander wouldn't be? But surely underneath all that there's got to be something else, right? I know that he appears in some of the Dragon Age comics, but I'm not a comic kind of guy... just not my kind of thing. But anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. Might be a while before my next update, got some stuff going on in the real world. If you haven't already, please check out my other stories. Also I'd like to offer up special thanks to Musicalrain for helping me with my ideas and shaping my stories... and for telling me when I've hit a bad idea._

_This story is turning out to be quite a bit longer than I had first intended, but I like how it's going. I know that it has been moving pretty slowly so far, but starting in the next chapter, it's really going to speed up._


	5. Shakedown

Jace walked into the dormitory after his time in the repository. It during the dinner hour, so the dormitory was pretty empty. He was pretty surprised however when he found Tylis laying in his bunk, hands under his head, and a look of contentment on his face.

"What's up with you?" Jace asked. "You look as happy as you did that day Irving walked in during the middle of that demonstration a while back and told you it was some of the best spellwork he'd ever seen from an apprentice."

"Hello Jace." Tylis answered from where he lay, then he turned his head to look at his friend. "This is even better! I found out that I have a family. Well… I've always known I had family, but I finally found out _about_ my family!"

"Really?" Jace asked, and this time he did genuinely seem interested. "Well don't stop there, do tell!"

Tylis sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, just as Jace sat down on the footlocker at the end of his own bed. Tylis chuckled, "You're gonna love this… but apparently the Amells are nobility up in Kirkwall. Rich, powerful, influential… you know, all those words that we never get to be."

Jace rolled his eyes. "Oh, this is just perfect. I find out that my best friend for the last year is actually descended from stuck-up, noble snobs! And as if that isn't bad enough, they're _foreign_ stuck-up, noble snobs!" Jace started laughing, and Tylis joined in.

"Figured you'd say something like that." Tylis answered. "Well, apparently, my mom's name is Revka, and I was told right, she's a Mage of the Circle, the Starkhaven Circle to be precise. Like you, she was kind of late bloomer, and didn't get her magic until she was in her mid-teens. From what I understand from the file that Greagoir let me see, the Amell family tried everything in their power, and pulled every string that there was to pull to try and keep mom from being sent off to the circle… But… well we both know how that always turns out."

Jace scowled and nodded, then motioned for Tylis to continue.

"Well after everything finally did get settled, it was decided that it would be better to send mom to a circle outside of Kirkwall, that's how she came to be in Starkhaven. I don't know who my dad is, and it looks like mom is the only person who knows that, but chances are good that he's another mage."

"Well I'd hope so!" Jace said, grinning widely. "Tranquil really aren't an option in that respect, and I hope that his mom of yours has the good sense not to fall for a templar!"

Tylis stared at his friend. "Thank you Jace, if there's anything you could have added to the discussion it would definitely have been to get me thinking about my mom's sex life."

"Don't mention it." Jace quickly came back. "What are friends for?"

Tylis closed his eyes and groaned. "You don't mention it!" He snapped in mock anger. "Well, I think that you know the rest of the story from there. I was born, sent off to be raised at a monastery on the odd chance that I turned out to be mage… I did turn out to be a mage, and then Tylis goes to Kinloch Hold."

Jace's eyebrows went up. "That's it?"

"Yeah." Tylis said happily. "That's it."

"You know…" Jace looked questioningly at his friend. "As excited as you to have found all this stuff out… that's really not much of a story."

"Hey!" Tylis said. "At this time yesterday the only thing I know about my family was that their last name was 'Amell'! Now I know more! I know where my family came from. I know my mom's name. I know a bit of family history! I know it's only a little bit, but I'll take a little bit over nothing at all."

Jace shrugged. "No need to get your knickers in a twist. I was just saying… Well, you know what I was saying. Let's go get some food, I'm starved!"

"How do you work up such an appetite napping in the repository?"

Jace shrugged again. "Sleep's hard work, what can I say?" Jace stood up and grabbed his friend. "Now come-on!"

Tylis let himself get pulled along. He wasn't very hungry, and Kassi had been spoiling him on the food that she cooked, and he already knew she'd be waking him up in the middle of the night for another of their 'secret' rendezvous. Ever since Kassi had been put to work in the kitchen she hadn't been around much during the day, and their get-togethers were becoming more frequent as it was almost the only time they had to see each other.

"So?" Jace asked as he sat down at their usual table with his load of food. Tylis noted that Jace had taken almost double what he normally would have consumed in a single meal. "Do you think that if you ran away from the tower and got up to Kirkwall, then you'd be part of the… royal family or whatever they have up there?"

Tylis laughed. "It's possible I suppose. Maybe if you put your master-plan into action then we could both escape, and you could come with me and become my royal bootlick!"

"Why? Because I'm an elf?" Jace glared.

"Oh come-on, Jace! You know that I didn't mean-"

Tylis stopped when he saw Jace grinning. "Take it easy shem. I know you don't think that way."

"Do you have to keep calling me that?"

"Yes!" Jace stopped talking after that and dove into his food.

Tylis watched with an almost amused expression as Jace tore into his meal, barely even stopping for breath, or to take a drink. "Hungry?" Tylis asked, as Jace finally started to slow.

"I told you I'm starved!" Jace replied. "Hey, why aren't you eating?"

"I'm not hungry… Hey, Jace… Before you resume your rather entertaining display, can I ask you about something?"

"Sure." Jace answered as he sipped his drink.

Tylis sighed and ran his hands through his blonde hair, Jace knew that motion, it meant that Tylis was either nervous about something, or was mentally debating something with himself. "Do you…" Tylis reached up to run a hand through his hair again, but stopped when his hand reached eye level and lowered it back to the table. "This… might sound stupid, but… do you think it's possible for me to see my mother? In a dream I mean, in the Fade?"

Jace shrugged. "That doesn't sound stupid." Then he dove back into the remainder of his food, forcing Tylis to wait again. When he'd finally finished, Jace wiped his mouth with the sleeve of a robe. "It's an odd question, and probably the strangest question I've ever been asked, but not stupid." Jace rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I really don't think anyone has ever used the Fade to dredge up memories from infancy, but… yeah, I think it would be possible. As much as I hate to say this, you might want to ask Wynne about it, as long as you don't tell her I said this, she really is good with Fade type matters and spirits and whatnot."

"I'd really rather keep the higher ups out of this." Tylis said.

Jace grinned, "Well that's something that I usually hear myself saying to you! So in that case I'd say you need the help a spirit."

"Well yeah, I kind of figured that, but how would I go about getting one?"

"I dunno." Jace shrugged.

"Hey! What do you mean you don't know? I thought that spirit magic was your specialty! And doesn't spirit magic come the Fade and… oh I don't know… _spirits!?_"

Jace sighed. "And just what in sod-all do you want me to do? Dream your dream for you? Should we snuggle up in the same bunk like two manly men so that we can share a dream? Or maybe something like this," Jace looked up like he was looking up and talking to a spirit in an overly exaggerating pleading voice, motioning with his hands just for added emphasis, "Excuse me there, uhh... spirit… but you see, I got this friend who's really good at blowing stuff up with his magic, but when it comes the magic that really matters then he's about an inch above completely useless. So anyway, he was wondering if I could ask you to-"

"Alright, that's enough!" Tylis finally cut him off, and he wasn't sure if wanted to laugh or take a swing at his friend. But that was just the kind of friend that Jace was. "I get it, I get the picture… When I start dreaming, find the spirit who's making the dream and try to get them to help. Is that about right?"

Jace's face split open in a grin. "Yeah, that's about right." Then he started laughing.

* * *

As Kassi's midnight meals were becoming a tradition between herself and Tylis, it was also becoming tradition for Ser Kessel to get a serving as well. Usually Kessel would take his food and then retreat to the cafeteria and give the two young mages their space. That night however, both Tylis and Kassi asked him to stay. In her brief time in the tower, the only two templars that Kassi had spoken to were Kessel and Greagoir, Kessel showing himself to be the same lenient, friendly, older man that his reputation portrayed him, and Greagoir being the stern but moderate commander. And after Tylis' most recent interaction with Kessel, he was on the verge of thinking of the templar as a friend.

"Ser Kessel," Tylis asked, "Excuse me for asking this, but why did you become a templar?"

In the brief times when Kessel's helmet was removed, Tylis had always thought that his grey eyes looked a touch sad. After being asked, his eyes seemed to grow even more sad.

"I don't mean to pry." Tylis said, seeing the look on Kessel's face. "I'm only curious."

"It's alright." Kessel answered, "I don't mind talking about it anymore, it's just not the most pleasant memory for me… I had a sister once, she was… different… Things always just seemed to happen around her, strange things that no one could explain. When she was eight years old, we found out why. It was because she was a mage. Our father walked inside her room to find that she had conjured a small floating light above her bed." Kessel sighed sadly, maybe even regretfully. "Zora always was afraid of the dark.

"Anyway, father did the dutiful thing and turned her over the chantry, I was twelve years old at the time, and I could not understand why. I was twelve years old," Kessel repeated, "And I'd just lost my baby sister." He paused for a few seconds before continuing. "I kept in touch with her… Zora… we sent letters back and forth on a regular basis, and when I got a few years older I was allowed to make short visits here at Kinloch Hold. And then… the letters just stopped, completely out of the blue. A few weeks later I received a letter from Irving, who was the newly appointed First Enchanter, saying that Zora was dead… the letter didn't say why, and any inquiry I made was never answered."

Tylis asked, "Was it the Harrowing that killed her?"

"Yes." Kessel answered, "And don't tell anyone that I just told you that. We are not allowed to speak about the Harrowing… at all."

Now Tylis understood why it was that Ser Kessel always looked sad. His sister had been a mage, and had died as an apprentice, and now Kessel was surrounded by apprentices just like his sister, many would have been discovered to be mages the same way Zora had been, and probably even coming from the same hometown.

"After Zora had been revealed as a mage and sent to the Circle, father refused to talk about her, even when I would try to show him the letters she sent, and it seemed that I was the only person in the world who seemed to care. And as soon as I was old enough, I dedicated my life to the chantry and the Maker, but I did it to find out how and why she died." Kessel finished his story, and then finished his food. "And here I remain."

Kassi started clearing the table, Tylis quickly started helping. Kassi asked, "And are you happy here?"

Kessel nodded, "Much like your young friend, Tylis here, I learned to be happy. I have a duty here, both to the Maker, and to my fellow man. And I found a new family here, in my templar brothers… and in the mages as well." Kessel stood to leave and said, "My shift is almost over, and my relief tonight is Ser Doric." He watched Tylis cringe at the name of brutal templar. "Actually…" Kessel suggested, "Maybe the two of you should just leave now, leave the mess for the tranquil in the morning.

The two young mages needed no encouragement as they started to make their way out of the kitchen and the cafeteria. They both stopped however as they came to the hallway that wrapped around the first floor of the tower, Tylis' dormitory was to the right, while Kassi's was to the left, and this time they both seemed reluctant to part ways.

"This is the happiest I can ever remember being." Tylis said. "I have friends… you and Jace. I have a family, who is not here, but I know they're out there somewhere. I have you to thank for the delicious food… And with all that considered, this old tower really is starting to feel like home, not just where I live, but a home, I mean a real home!" Tylis grinned, "Thanks, for everything."

"You're welcome." Kassi smiled back. "If it weren't for you, and Jace too I guess, but mostly you, this place would be pretty much unbearable for me."

"Well I'm…" Tylis had to think of something to say, he just wanted to stretch out what would likely be their last moments together for a couple days. "I'm happy that I can do that much."

Kassi giggled, which made Tylis blush. '_She giggled,_' Tylis thought to himself, '_I mean I've heard her laugh before, but… she just giggled!_'

"You know you're really bad at this, don't you?" Kassi asked.

"Bad at what?" Tylis asked, completely lost.

"Telling a girl that you like her."

"This place isn't exactly a charm school!" Tylis immediately came back.

Kassi giggled again. "No need to get defensive." She moved closer, and Tylis suddenly felt it get warmer. "Just relax." Kassi said, "Be yourself. It's what girls like… and I like you."

Tylis closed his eyes as he felt Kassi's lips touch his own. And then the moment was over, and Tylis thought it had come and gone too fast. Tylis opened his eyes to find Kassi looking at him and smiling.

"First kiss?" She asked.

Tylis had to clear his throat before he answered. "Am I that obvious?"

"Oh, you have no idea!" Kassi laughed, then she said, "Good night Tylis."

"Good night Kassi."

* * *

Unfortunately for Tylis Amell, there would be very little sleep for him that night. In fact, there was very little sleep for anyone in the tower that night. Tylis felt himself being roughly shaken awake after what felt like only a few minutes. In a brief moment of terror, he thought that the templars had come for him, and that his time for the Harrowing had come. But as he looked around the dormitory, he saw that several templars moved around the room, and they seemed to be waking up all the apprentices, and they weren't being gentle about it.

"All apprentices to the cafeteria, NOW!" One of the templars yelled.

As Tylis and the other boys were herded out of the dormitory, he chanced a look over his shoulder to find the templars weren't wasting any time. They were digging through foot lockers and tossing the contents of closets aside with no regard to their owners or the delicacy of the contents. The templars were even flipping mattresses and cutting open pillows to look through their innards.

"Jace!" Tylis whispered. "Do you know what this is all about?"

"Random shakedown?" Jace guessed. "I have no idea. Your guess is as good as mine."

On reaching the cafeteria Tylis and Jace found that the female apprentices had been roused as well. Apparently they had both been given the same amount of time to dress and prepare, and a good number of the apprentices were only half dressed. In a few more minutes, the apprentices were joined the by the Harrowed mages and enchanters, and finally with the telltale clanking of metal on metal, several templars strode into the room, Knight-Commander Greagoir himself at their head. One thing was for certain, this was no shakedown.

"Mages!" Greagoir called out in his loud, firm voice. "Today, a spell book of considerable power and importance was stolen from First Enchanter Irving's office! There have been no merchants, nor visitors to Kinloch Hold within the last day, therefore the thief must be in this room. Whoever took the book, step forward now, and my judgment will be merciful… continue to hide, and it will be far more fierce!" Greagoir waited for a full minute, but no one stepped forward to accept responsibility for the theft. "Very well." Greagoir said angrily. "Everyone will remain where they are until the book is found." He turned to his knights. "I want two knights at each exit, no one leaves this room! The rest of you spread out, search the entire tower, and if the book is not found, then search it again, and again if you have to! Enlist the aid of the tranquil. The only mage who's word you may trust is that of the First Enchanter himself!... Well… what are you all still standing around for? GO!" The Knight-Templars turned and left the room so quickly that one would think they were object of Greagoir's wrath.

Tylis leaned towards Jace and muttered, "So what do you think got stolen?"

"Irving's Kama sutra?" Jace suggested, and both friends laughed nervously.


	6. I am Compassion

_As always, I would like to thank everyone who has favorited/followed/reviewed this story. It's actually turning out to be a lot longer and more complex than I had first intended, but I think that has something to do with Tylis being a very interesting character, and he's hard not to like. And after my most recent review from _J, _I guess I should come out now and say that Jowan is not going to appear in this story. The main reason for that being that I really can't stand him. Every scene he had in the game just managed to irritate me, so I'm just going to stick with Kassi and Jace being the side characters. Anyways, here's my latest chapter, enjoy!_

* * *

A few hours after being herded into the cafeteria, the mages began to fall asleep. They slept on benches, on tables, on the floor, some even managed to fall asleep while leaning against a wall. Tylis, like many of the others was fading in and out of sleep. Every so often, a templar would enter the crowded room and shout some idle threat that would wake everyone up, then would storm back out and the mages would all go back to sleep. Tylis wasn't sure what time it was that he finally woke up for good, but he saw sunlight coming in through the windows kept high above the floor to discourage escape attempts.

"What time is it?" Tylis groaned as he felt vertebrae popping from being forced to sleep on the stone floor.

Jace sat on one of the benches a few feet away from Tylis, his back hunched over, and his forehead resting on his fingertips, elbows braced on his thighs. "I don't know, and I don't care." Jace groaned without looking up. "I just want to get out of here and go lay down in my own bed again… But if I had to guess I'd say it's pretty close to noon. The tranquil cooking crew came in just a few minutes ago."

"Is Kassi back there with them?"

"Yes." Jace still didn't bother to look up.

"And I take it that the templars haven't found whatever it is that they're looking for?"

Jace groaned louder. "Do I really have to answer that? If they had found it then some mage would be dragged off screaming, to await whatever judgment Greagoir has in mind, and we'd all be released… Now please stop talking… I have a bad headache and you're only making it worse."

Tylis obliged his friend and went to go look for Leorah, he wanted to talk to her about dreams and spirits, perhaps she had some insight that Jace didn't. Even if she didn't, then Tylis had more things that he wanted to talk about her. Leorah always had compared Tylis to a sponge, but instead of trying to soak up water, Tylis soaked up knowledge. He found Leorah sitting on one of the benches looking every bit as miserable as Jace and the majority of the other forcibly held mages.

"_Umm_… Senior Enchanter…" Tylis said, almost reluctantly. He wasn't sure if it was wise to disturb his mentor in her current mood.

Leorah looked up and brushed a stubborn lock of blonde hair away from her face. "What is it?" She asked.

Tylis had always found her accent confusing, no one else in the tower talked like she did, and Leorah had never mentioned where she came from, so Tylis had no idea. He only knew that her accent made her already high-pitched voice take on a certain nasally tone, especially when she was excited or angry. "Sorry if I'm bothering you, Senior Enchanter, but I was just wondering if I could ask a couple questions?"

"Of course." She answered, already sounding happy. "Anything to liven up this boredom! And there's no need to be so formal, especially not in this setting, just call me Leorah… What did you want to know?"

"Thank you," Tylis paused for only a moment before calling her, "Leorah. I was wondering if you could tell me about spirits and dreams?"

Leorah's eyebrows arched. "An unusual question… what do you want to know about them?"

"Well I know that our dreams are created by good spirits, but do you know of a way to contact them?"

"Why do you ask?"

Tylis ran a hand through his hair before answering, "It's for a research project I've just started… personal research of course… nothing that's been assigned."

"I see." Leorah answered. "I know it's possible to contact spirits, although how one would do so, I really don't know, as I have never done that myself. I'm sure you know that spirit healers are taught by spirits, those who specialize in the spirit school often have a stronger link to the Fade and so are more 'in touch' with spirits… Actually… have you ever heard of spirit warriors?"

"No." Tylis answered, suddenly feeling his interest rise. "What are they? Some kind of warrior mage?"

Leorah shook her head. "Perhaps in some respects, but not really. They are certainly no mage, but somehow they contact a spirit and strike up a deal. The spirit agrees to augment their physical prowess with various magical abilities and in return, the spirit receives glimpses and perhaps experiences of our world."

"Wait!" Tylis held up a hand, "Wait, wait, wait… I thought that spirits have no interest in us mortals, or our world. So why would they strike up such a bargain? And wouldn't that be possession? Wouldn't the templars hunt them down for that?"

Leorah chuckled. "You know, if all the apprentices were as eager to learn as you are, then would make my life considerably easier… The truth is however that while _most_ spirits have no interest in us, some are very interested, if not, then we would have no spirit healers. Most, if not all spirits embody a specific aspect, unlike mortals who have complex and ever changing personalities. Some warrior spirits, such as spirits of Valor, Justice, Courage, and even Vengeance, are curious of mortal warriors. And no, it's not possession, at least not from the perspective of spirit and warrior, it's more of a partnership where they are free to act on their own without the commands of the other." Leorah looked around nervously before she said, "The templars don't often draw that distinction however, and yes, if a spirit warrior is ever discovered, then they are hunted down as abominations."

Tylis cocked his head to one side. "How do you know all that? Sorry, but I just haven't seen many spirit warriors running around here lately."

Leorah chuckled. "Research of course. If you're really interested on the topic, there are two books in the library that come to mind, 'Fade Warrior', and 'Sword of the Spirit', the first was written a spirit warrior himself, the second was written by a templar who had been tasked to hunt down and kill a spirit warrior, but ended up befriending him after the warrior saved his life from an actual abomination." Leorah seemed the breath a bit easier now that the topic of spirit warriors was over.

"Sorry, but I'm afraid that there is no surefire way to contact a spirit. Was another question you wanted answered." Leorah asked.

"Yes actually." Tylis answered quickly. "Is there something that determines what kind of magic a mage will be skilled in? Like me… I'm a natural with primal and entropy, but like you know, I'm hopeless when it comes to spirit and entropy."

Leorah's face finally broke into a smile. "You're telling me!" She chuckled happily. "No one's really sure what gifts a mage with what abilities, but I suspect that as with any talent, some are more gifted in some areas than others. Just like some are naturally athletic, some have the gift of gab, and others are skilled with weapons practically before they even touch one."

Tylis shrugged and said. "I guess that makes sense… And that's really all I wanted to know. Thank you Senior-I mean Leorah."

"You are welcome."

Tylis slowly started to walk his way back to Jace, and then the realization dawned on him that he'd just told Leorah he was doing a research project on spirits, and now he was really going to have to follow up on that! Tylis groaned. '_Oh well… Maybe I'll just go ahead and do the project! I'll do research on spirit warriors! They did sound pretty interesting after all.'_

* * *

Darkness was falling by the time Greagoir entered the cafeteria again. He glared angrily at the large room full of mages, most of whom looked ready to attempt suicide from boredom, then called loudly, "We have recovered the stolen item, and the offender has been discovered. You are all free to go about your business."

Whatever the Knight-Commander had said after that wasn't heard by most of the mages, Jace, Tylis, and Kassi included as they jumped up from where they sat, and Jace lay on the floor, and sprinted towards their dormitories as quickly as their legs could carry them. Jace jerked an elbow into another apprentice's ribs, sending him crashing into the wall and clearing the way for Jace to make it into the dormitory first, Tylis was right behind him.

"Was that really necessary?" Tylis asked, just as Jace stretched his arms out in front of him and dove through the air, landing belly first on his bed and crawling under the covers, not even bothering to change out of his robe.

"What?" Jace said, his eyes already closed. "Oh, you mean the guy who made an impression on the wall…" He laughed happily. "I told him I was getting in here first!"

"Why do you do these things, Jace?"

Jace opened a single eye. "Because they're fun." He grinned again. "And I really wanted to get in here first." He closed his eye again and didn't reopen it, although he did say, "You should give it a shot some time."

Tylis shook his head. Jace would never change, but then if he did he wouldn't be Jace anymore. Tylis unfastened his own robe and quickly donned his bed clothes again. "Maker…" Tylis silently mouthed the word. "Please… let me dream tonight. And let it be a merciful spirit who creates it." Then Tylis quickly dropped into his own bed and pulled the blankets up to his shoulders. Like Jace, he was asleep within seconds, and from how it felt, he began dreaming only a few minutes after that.

He was still in Kinloch Hold, or at a version of the Hold. It looked happier. There were windows at eye level for one thing, and Tylis could see people walking the grounds outside and swimming in the lake. The mages who practiced their magic arts did so without the watchful eye of the templars, and the templars who were present walked about without their helmets, and many of them without any weapons at all. Tylis could recognize a few of the people he saw walking around. Jace was playing cards with a few others, or rather, hustling them at cards. Kassi was talking to Ser Kessel about something that Tylis couldn't hear. And Greagoir and Irving both walked around the floor, seeming to approve of whatever was going on.

Tylis got up and walked over to Kassi and Kessel. The two of them both stopped in their conversation and looked at him, politely waiting for him to speak.

"I'm dreaming… right?" Tylis said.

Kessel nodded and answered, "You are. I hope that you find the dream enjoyable."

Tylis looked around. "It does seem very nice… I wish that the tower really was like this."

"That's partly what dreams are for." Kassi smiled. "To offer you an escape, if only for a single night… Go on, enjoy yourself!"

"Actually," Tylis said, "I'd rather meet the one who is creating this dream… I have a favor to ask."

Kessel and Kassi looked at each other. "Well this is new." Kessel said, "Normally you mortals are happy just to be in a dream."

Tylis smiled shyly. "So… is that yes or a no?"

"Depends." Kessel said cryptically.

Kassi nodded, "Find the spirit and ask yourself."

"Well that's easy." Tylis smiled, then turned and pointed at a women dressed in the robes of a senior enchanter. "It's her."

The 'mage' that Tylis pointed at kept her face neutral as she walked over to him. "How could you tell?" She asked. "Or were you only guessing."

Tylis grinned, "I was… seventy-five percent sure. Mostly because I don't recognize you from my real life and you've been watching me with a little too much interest."

"Very astute." The spirit answered. "And now I'm the one who's curious… what favor do you have to ask?"

"I want to see my mother!" Tylis quickly blurted out. "I know that I've seen her before, but I was only an infant at the time, and I can't remember on my own… I think that if there is anyone who can help me remember, it would be a spirit." Tylis stopped, and when he spoke again his voice sounded desperate even to himself. "Can you… can you help me? Can you show me my mother?"

The spirit closed her eyes for a few seconds, and when she opened them again Tylis felt that she wasn't so much look _at_ him as she was looking _inside_ him. "Yes." She said as she blinked a few times. "Yes, I can help you remember… Come with me."

The spirit led Tylis through the already open doors of the tower. It had been a long time since Tylis had been out of the tower and onto the outside grounds. Despite the length of time however, Tylis remembered that there was definitely no house built right outside the ancient tower, and yet he found himself looking at a small house the bottom half of the walls constructed from stone, the upper half made from logs, and the roof from boards. The spirit pointed at the open door and said, "You'll find what you want inside. I will wait here."

Tylis approached the cabin door, and he only hesitated for a brief moment before he opened it and stepped inside. In the middle of the small room was a baby's crib holding and infant that Tylis instantly knew was himself. And standing over the crib was… "Mother!" Tylis almost yelled the word. "Mother!"

His mother didn't react to his voice at all. '_And why should she? This part of the dream isn't really a dream, it's a memory._' His mother, Revka, knelt down over the crib, her long, light brown hair falling freely down past her shoulders. "Tylis…" She said quietly, and Tylis fell to his knees, tears already forming in his eyes as he heard his mother's voice. "Tylis… my son… my little boy!" Then she looked behind her at something that Tylis couldn't see, and a look of hatred flashed over her face, then she looked back down at the infant Tylis again. "Tylis, I love you so much! Whatever happens to you, wherever you go, I love you! I'll always love you!" She leaned over farther and lightly kissed his forehead.

But then a templar materialized behind her, and placed a heavily armored hand on her shoulder. "It's time, mage." He said.

"No!" Revka yelled as she whipped around to face the templar, and the infant Tylis began to cry inside his crib.

"It's time." The templar repeated in a monotone voice. "You knew this would happen, we must take the child."

"No!" Revka yelled again, this time pushing the heavily armored templar back. "Were you able to say goodbye to your mother when you left your home? Give me five minutes with my child…" Her voice softened as she said, "Just five minutes… is that so too much to ask? Just give this one small concession, and I promise that I will not resist."

The templar thought for a moment and then nodded. "Very well, mage. I will not deny you a mere five minutes, but remember your promise when I return."

Revka didn't even acknowledge the armored man as he walked away, she only turned back to the crib and quickly scooped the infant boy out and held him in her arms. "Shhh…" She whispered quietly, gently patting his back, "Shhh… It's alright Tylis, he's gone now."

For five minutes, Revka held the infant Tylis against her chest, gently rocking him back and forth and reassuring him how much she loved him and wished that they could stay together. Tylis was barely able to contain himself, finally being able to see his mother, his real mother, who he could not even imagine before, and hearing her constantly saying that she loved him. Sobs wracked Tylis' body as he watched the scene unfold, and he made no attempt to wipe away the tears that rolled down his face. As the templar reappeared, Revka proved true to her word, and handed her infant son to the waiting templar with only a few seconds hesitation. Just before she gave the baby away, Tylis heard his mother whisper, "I will see you again someday, my son!" Then the templar turned and was gone, Revka fell to her knees as well, bracing her hands against the floor as she wailed her loss, Tylis joined her in her grief, and only a few seconds later, Revka's body began to fade away until it was completely gone.

As Tylis left the cabin, he found that the spirit was indeed standing exactly where she had been when he went inside. When Tylis came close enough, he threw his arms around the spirit in a warm embrace. The spirit seemed surprised at first with his show of emotion, and she hesitantly returned it. "Thank you." Tylis said as he broke away. "I am…" He wiped the last of the tears from his eyes. "It was hard to see what I just saw… but I am happy for it. Thank you, spirit… thank you so much! Without you, I never would have been able to see my mother."

"You are welcome, Tylis." Was all the spirit said.

"I think I am ready to wake up now… I have… a lot to think about."

The spirit nodded, and almost instantly the dream began to melt away.

"Who are you?" Tylis asked, just as the form of the spirit began to blur and fade.

"I am Compassion." The spirit answered.


End file.
